The Thriller Collection

by S W Vaughn

  Blade lifted his lips in a painful imitation of a smile, showing blood-smeared teeth. “Your mom,” he grated.

  Ozzy smashed him into the wall, drawing a harsh sob that nearly shattered him. “What did you change the password to?”

  Blade licked his lips with obvious effort. “Give you one guess,” he said faintly. “Starts with ‘your’. Ends with ‘mom’.”

  With an enraged shout, Ozzy threw him again. He crashed to a bone-jarring stop at the foot of the desk, and his eyes rolled up. Toward the gun just above him.

  Now.

  Ozzy pivoted to face the colonel. The look of pride and enjoyment on the man’s face turned his stomach. “Tell me something, Fischer,” he said. “How much do I get paid working for you?”

  The colonel’s features slid toward mild confusion. “Paid?”

  “Yes, paid. The only reason I got mixed up with these freaks in the first place was that I needed a job.” He took a deliberate step toward Fischer, blocking his view of Blade. “Because someone framed me for a goddamned felony. It’s not easy for a convicted criminal to get a job, and you’re about to kill my employer.”

  “Are you stalling, Captain Stone?”

  “No. I’m collecting,” he said. “You owe me a life, and I’m going to take it.”

  Colonel Fischer laughed coldly. “Then you’re a bigger fool than I thought. Have you forgotten about this?” he said, raising his weapon to eye level.

  “Oh, I know you have a gun,” Ozzy said. And then he smiled. “But so does Blade.”

  The instant the shock registered in Fischer’s eyes, Ozzy lunged for him. He grabbed the man’s extended wrist, forced his arm down and spun aside to give Blade a clear shot.

  Two reports rang out at once.

  A hot knife of pain sliced through Ozzy’s shin, and his knee buckled. He barely managed to stay upright. The colonel was still rigid and standing, and for one terrifying instant he thought Blade had missed.

  Then Fischer coughed, and blood poured from his mouth.

  Ozzy wrenched the gun from his hand. The colonel stumbled back, his lips moving soundlessly, and pressed a hand to the dark, wet spot spreading on his service jacket. The hand trembled as he pulled it back and stared at the blood.

  Fischer sank slowly to his knees, his breath producing a sputter of crimson bubbles. One eye twitched rapidly while the other sent a hateful glare at Ozzy. At last, he fell forward and landed on his face.

  “I shot him.” Blade was leaning against the desk, holding the gun out with a trembling arm. “Did I shoot him? Is he…”

  “Yes.” Gritting his teeth, Ozzy started toward him—stepping with his good leg, dragging the injured one behind. Blood leaked over his bare foot and smeared across the floor as he walked. “Come on,” he gasped. “We’re going to have company.”

  “Company?”

  “Fischer can’t tell his soldiers to stand down this time.”

  “Oh. Right.” Blade glanced down when Ozzy reached him. “He shot you.”

  “Yes. He did.”

  The man was edging toward shock, and Ozzy worried he might have to slap him out of it. But then Blade shook his head fiercely and lowered his arm. “I don’t know how you pulled that off, but you’re a goddamned genius,” he said.

  “Couldn’t have done it…without you.” He was starting to sweat, to feel the first signs of weakness from blood loss. “We have to move. Now.”

  “Where?”

  “Over by the door.”

  “All right. Just a second.” Blade tore the remains of his shirt away. Then he dropped to a knee, wrapped it around Ozzy’s shin and tied it tight. “That should help,” he said, straightening to wedge himself beneath an arm for support. “Let’s go.”

  “Thanks,” Ozzy ground out past the lump in his throat.

  Together they managed to limp quickly across the room. Ozzy flattened against the wall on the side of the door that opened, and motioned for Blade to do the same. “Kill the lights,” he said, doing a quick check of the colonel’s gun to make sure it was loaded.

  Blade hit the switch, and the lights went out. “Why are we standing here in the dark?” he whispered.

  “They don’t know what happened in here. And I’ll see them first.”

  “Good plan.”

  They waited in silence. It wasn’t long before footsteps sounded in the hall and stopped close. Someone knocked on the door. “Colonel?” a voice said. “Shots fired. We need a situation report.”

  When no one answered, the knob turned and the door opened. “What the hell…” the first soldier said, stepping into the room. “Decker, can you see anything in here?”

  Ozzy waited until they’d both cleared the doorway. Then he shot the second soldier, the one who could run the easiest. Before the body hit the floor, he’d put a bullet through the first one too.

  Blade let out a shaking breath in the silent aftermath. “Remind me not to piss you off,” he said.

  “There’s two more, somewhere.” Ozzy shifted position until he could see the hallway. All clear—for now. “We need to find Kat and get out of here.”

  “I know where she is.”

  He frowned. “You do?”

  “Yeah. I made Corvair bring me to her before the torture party started,” Blade said. “Told him I wouldn’t give him the encryption password unless I saw her in person.”

  “That was damned smart. Is she all right?”

  “She’s alive.” The rough edges to his voice said she definitely wasn’t unharmed.

  “All right,” he said. “You’ve still got the gun?”

  “Hell yes. I’m going to marry this thing.”

  Ozzy almost laughed, but it would’ve hurt too much. “I’ll go first and watch ahead. You watch behind us,” he said. “Shoot anything that moves.”

  “Got it.” Blade flashed a grimly determined expression. “Let’s go save Kat.”

  Chapter 48

  When Roman walked into the room with Stone right behind him, Kat burst into tears.

  “Hey, darlin’,” Roman said, trying to lighten the mood. “Nice to see you, too.”

  “Fuck you very much, Mr. Blade,” she sobbed with a smile on her face.

  “You wish.” Fighting tears of his own, he went to her and started loosening the straps that held her to the rack. Stone stayed by the door, gun at the ready. “Have you down in a flash,” he said.

  “Good.” She turned toward Stone. “Ozzy? You expecting company?”

  “Took out two soldiers,” he said without looking around. “There’s still two more.”

  “They’re gone,” Kat said.

  Both of them stared at her. “You sure?” Stone said.

  “Yes. Two of ’em came in here right after the colonel shot Corvair, and—”

  “How do you know what happened?”

  Roman realized that Stone didn’t know about the monitors. “You had a camera in your room, right?” he said.

  Stone nodded slowly.

  “Well…” Roman gestured at the dual screens, now black and silent. “This is where the feeds went.”

  “Christ,” Stone whispered. “They made you—”

  “Like I said.” Kat cut him off with a firm tone, clearly not wanting to discuss that. “They came in and shut it all down. Packed up everything but the screens, and talked about whether they should kill me. They decided not to. And then they left.”

  “The room, or the building?” Roman said as he finished the ankle restraints and started on her wrists.

  “Well, one of them said he wasn’t going to die for ‘that crazy old bastard,’ and the other agreed. So I’m guessing the building.”

  “Yeah. Maybe.” Stone moved reluctantly into the room, keeping an eye on the entrance. “We should still hurry.”

  “I’m hurrying.” Roman moved to the last strap, putting an arm around Kat’s waist to steady her as he eased the buckle loose. “You ready?”

  “Damned straight I am.”

  “Okay.
Here we go.” He pulled the end of the strap free, and caught her as she slumped against him.

  Then she treated him to a long, hot kiss. “That’s for not dying on me,” she whispered as she pulled back.

  He gave her a gentle smile. “You’re welcome.”

  “All right. We’d better do like the boss says.” She wiped at her still-streaming eyes and walked unsteadily toward Stone. “Hey, you,” she said. “Got a second?”

  He turned with a question in his eyes. And she kissed him, too.

  Stone’s reaction was a lot more visceral. His neck flushed dark red, and he groaned deep in his throat. Roman watched them with a small smirk—the poor bastard had it bad for Kat. But it was impossible not to love her.

  Then he noticed a shadow shifting in the hallway, and his blood froze. “Stone!” he shouted. “Behind you!”

  The big man whirled just as a bloodied apparition loomed in the doorway—Colonel Fischer, with a messy patch of tape across his chest, half-dried blood coating his chin and throat, and eyes full of murderous intent. He carried one of the dead soldiers’ rifles in both hands like a club.

  Without hesitation, Stone put a bullet in his forehead. “You’d better fucking die this time,” he growled as the body hit the floor.

  Kat made a low, desperate sound and wavered on her feet. She was going to collapse.

  Roman dashed for her, and Stone turned at the same time. They both caught her before she hit the floor.

  She coughed and shuddered, then managed to look up at them. “My heroes,” she whispered. “Can we please go home now?”

  “Best idea I’ve heard all day.” Roman smirked at Stone. “Can you walk?”

  “No. You?”

  “Nope. But I guess we’re doing it anyway.”

  The three of them headed out together. Somehow, the pain wasn’t so bad with friends to help carry the load.

  Chapter 49

  Ozzy couldn’t stop staring at the redhead with the wide hazel eyes, who was wearing a leather bra under a mesh shirt. But it wasn’t so much her outfit that commanded his attention.

  He’d never heard anyone talk this long without breathing.

  “So then I said, ‘Banana,’ only I forgot that our safe word is pineapple because we changed it and she thought I wanted her to use a banana, so she said, ‘You want me to, like, go to the store now, because we’re out of bananas,’ and then I said, ‘No, I mean pineapple,’ and she said, ‘We’re out of those, too,’ and I was like — hey, Ozzy, do you want to see my ass? It’s totally intense.” The redhead started unbuttoning her jeans.

  “Um.” He coughed and looked away as heat flushed his neck. “I don’t think…”

  “Okay, Jess. Let’s save the peep show for the private rooms.”

  Kat’s voice filled him with relief. He was fine, even marginally comfortable hearing about the exploits of their clients now, but he wasn’t interested in witnessing. Or participating.

  Jess leaned on the bar and pouted a little. “Aw,” she said. “Too bad. Hey, maybe you and me could get a room sometime, Ozzy. You know, like when your shift’s over or something.”

  He only grimaced a little. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

  “Suit yourself. It’s for the best anyway, because Destiny would be wicked jealous about it. She likes you, too.” Jess winked and sauntered away. “Bye, Ozzy!”

  “Er, yeah. Bye.”

  “Don’t worry. She’ll only bite if you ask her to.” Kat laughed as she slid into the spot Jess had just vacated. “How’s the leg, champ?”

  “Mending.” It’d been two weeks since the escape from the Magi, but the ordeal still felt fresh. Especially at night when he tried to sleep. But with Blade’s encouragement, at least he’d managed to lay off the booze. He’d invited the man to stay with him until he decided on a place of his own, and the arrangement was working out surprisingly well. A damned sight better than sharing a cell, anyway. “How about you?” he said to Kat.

  “Better,” she said. “I’m a little excited, actually. They just gave us a release date for Presley.”

  “Yeah? When?”

  “One week, as long as she keeps improving the way she is. Then I can finally take her home.” She ended on a whisper as tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back and smiled.

  “That’s wonderful.” There was a catch in his voice as he spoke. The transplant had been a complete success, and Presley had suffered no side effects. She also wasn’t showing any signs of rejecting the heart. Normally the hospitalization would have been shorter, but there were legal complications—including a vanished hospital administrator, and Kat officially adopting Presley. “I’m thrilled for both of you,” he said.

  “Both of who? Hey, you didn’t go and get engaged on me, did you? You’re supposed to be saving yourself for me.”

  Kat laughed and gave Blade a light shove as he stepped up beside her. “He meant Presley,” she said. “I’m taking her home in a week.”

  “Awesome.” Blade smiled, and then turned a smirk to Ozzy. “That was a close one,” he said. “Maybe you’d better propose to her, before somebody else does.”

  Ozzy shot him a glare, but he couldn’t hold it. “Thought that was your job.”

  “Nah. I’m a free agent.”

  “Same here,” Kat said. “I don’t know what I’d do without both of my boys.”

  “Especially me. I’m winning over Stone here, three to two.”

  Ozzy’s brow furrowed. “What, exactly, are you winning?”

  “I saved your ass three times,” he said. “You only saved mine twice. I’m still ahead, man.”

  “Wrong. We’re tied.”

  “How do you figure?”

  Ozzy counted off fingers. “Frank, Corvair, Fischer. That’s three.”

  “The middle one doesn’t count. Fischer took out Corvair.”

  “Yeah, but I made him go in there and do it.”

  “Fine. Then I’m counting Fischer as my point. I warned you he was there.”

  “I shot him.”

  “So did I.”

  “Boys!” Kat looked at them with fond exasperation. “Does it have to be a competition?”

  “Yes,” they both said at once. And laughed.

  “All right, I’ll give you three,” Blade said. “We’re tied. So don’t expect me to save your ass again.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m not saving yours, either.”

  “You two are hopeless.” Kat grinned and slid between them, starting away from the bar. “Get back to work,” she said. “I’m not paying you to measure your manhood.”

  “You should,” Blade called after her. “I’d get a raise.”

  She flapped a hand at him and vanished into the crowd.

  Blade sighed and shook his head. “That woman is something else.”

  “Yeah.” Ozzy glanced in her direction, barely noticing the smile on his own face. “I think I’m going to pull my stake, though. She might be too much woman for me.”

  “Good idea. You’ll be a happier man for it.” Blade clapped his shoulder. “Well, you heard the boss. Back to work.”

  “Hey, Blade?”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Thanks for saving my ass.”

  “Yeah. You too.” Blade hesitated, and then said, “It was more than three times, though. You saved me from myself.”

  “Well … you’re welcome.”

  “Okay. Any more of this manly feeling stuff and I’m gonna gag on it.” Blade grinned and offered a nearly perfect salute. “Carry on, soldier-boy.”

  Ozzy watched him head for the security room, and went back to his rounds feeling lighter than he had since he killed the man who’d ruined his life. He’d done exactly what he said he would — by stopping Fischer’s horrific operation, he’d taken it back.

  It wasn’t the same life, but this just might be even better than before.

  Thanks for reading…

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  Read on for an exclusive preview of KILL SWITCH, an exciting crime thriller.

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  Preview: KILL SWITCH

  Twenty years ago

  Landstaff Junction, Vermont

  Just one more catalogue sale and she’d qualify for a brand-new bike, not to mention being the highest fundraiser in her sixth-grade class. That was the only reason Preston had ridden so far outside town — about two miles up the TR-28 toward the mountains, where the woods lined both sides of the road and the houses were few and far between.

  Ahead on the left was a small, neat white house with old-fashioned shutters and a bright red front door, set back from the road and surrounded by a perfect blanket of green grass on all sides. She didn’t see a car in the driveway, but she hoped someone would be home. It was a Saturday, after all. Today she’d actually been invited to the community pool with Meg Halstead and her family later this afternoon, and for once she didn’t even have to bring her little sister along. But she wanted to get this done first. She was so close.

  There was another house out here, too, just beyond the white one on the opposite side of the road. She didn’t really want to go to that one. It was a huge place, faded and peeling and ominous with a saggy porch and junk cluttering the ragged yard. Just looking at it made her shiver.